Does the LORD counsel us through the oftentimes contradictory advice of our peers? Twice king Saul went out into the wilderness with his army to seek the young upstart David, the son of Jesse, and to destroy him. On the second of these forays, Saul and his men entered into a cave to refresh themselves with a moment’s rest. David and his men were themselves simultaneously in the same cave, having previously entered to hide therein from Saul and his foxhunting army of bloodhounds.
While Saul and his men were unwitting of the presence of David and his rebels in the cave, David and his men were acutely aware of Saul’s presence in the same. While Saul and his men were sleeping, some of David's men counseled David to kill Saul, citing an unknown prophecy as authority for the kill. David (who was, in point of fact, the LORD’s anointed at that time) resisted the counsel of his warriors, citing the anointing which Samuel (the prophet and judge of Israel) had endowed Saul with before secretly anointing David with the same.
The apostle “Paul” (Saul of Tarsus) wrote to the church at Corinth, “the Jews require a sign [1 Corinthians 1:22]”; and, according to the text of the twenty- fourth chapter of First Samuel, the rebel David chose to provide a sign of his loyalty to king Saul in cutting off “the skirt of Saul's robe” instead of killing Saul and thereby signifying his loyalty to the kingdom which was already his own by virtue of the same anointing which had previously bequeathed the kingdom to Saul.
After Saul and his men exit the cave, David and his entourage likewise exit; and David openly addresses Saul with an explanation of the sign expressed in the missing skirt of Saul's robe. In one verse of this address (verse 10, ibid.), the translators added five words to the text, of which only one is a grammatic necessity; the other four being gratuitous and misleading. Verse ten (with the translators’ help) reads: "Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the LORD had delivered thee to day into mine hand in the cave: and some bade me kill thee: but mine eye spared thee; and I said, I will not put forth mine hand against my lord; for he is the LORD's anointed [1 Samuel 24:10]."
In adding the words “some”, “me”, and “mine eye” to the text of verse 10, the translators managed to change the doctrinal value of the verse in substantial ways. Some would no doubt characterize these changes as “inspired” inasmuch as they make the LORD seem less “double minded” (in the words of the apostle James) and David less rebellious– even prudent– for refusing the LORD’s counsel (in the form of the advice of his peers to kill Saul) than the text unaltered would. This must have been the goal of the translators in adding these four words: because the sentence is whole without them. However, the truth is of infinitely higher value than propaganda (inspired or otherwise) could be, to the true seeker.
As previously stated, the translators added one word (the verb “is”) to the text of verse ten which is necessary to correct the grammar of the original expression. With this one necessary addition, and without the aforementioned unnecessary additions, verse ten of First Samuel reads: "Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the LORD had delivered thee to day into mine hand in the cave: and bade kill thee: but spared thee; and I said, I will not put forth mine hand against my lord; for he is the LORD's anointed [1 Samuel 24:10]."
Notice how the unaltered text of verse ten credits the LORD with the homicidal counsel of David's cohorts and with capitulation to David's willingness to spare his father- in- law, king Saul; while underscoring David's refusal to do the LORD’s bidding in the matter of Saul's demise. In altering the text to cover these elements up, the translators did the text and the truth no favors.
